IT Project: Cutover Preparation

Mergers and acquisitions are common in today's markets. These corporate marriages often come with consolidation and integration. Eventually, information systems are consolidated. When systems touch customers, our risk antennae should perk up and we should prepare to minimize business impact. Preparation includes planning, temporary resources, a command center, practice through rehearsing, etc. Read about USAirways post-acquisition preparation for cutover to its common reservation system. ...

... "US Airways has been prepping for the mammoth IT project since the America West-US Airways merger closed in September 2005. " ...

Via Arizona Republic: US Airways IT Integration

Update: Via Bloomberg: USAirways Cutover Issues: "US Airways' kiosks at Charlotte and four regional hubs couldn't communicate with the reservation network for several hours after the systems were unified ... "

Is Project Management Relevant?

Over the years, I've had discussions with software developers who question the need for project management. I've heard everything from "The developers are the only ones who really know what's needed anyway!" to "All the project managers do is slow things down and add unnecessary bureaucracy!" to "Why can't the the developers just work with the customer to give them what they need and avoid the middleman?"

The fact is, given the right developer and a fairly isolated project, all of these are valid statements. But many projects are much more complex than that. They involve multiple stakeholders with conflicting needs, offshore resources, multiple vendors, complex interrelationships with other activities and departments, and more. They frequently involve managing all of this against budget and schedule constraints.

Leading, facilitating, and managing all of these elements is where a good project manager can help. An effective project manager removes barriers for a team rather than adding barriers. Any activities that may appear like "nuisance work" to technicians, such as reporting time or percent complete against milestones, are often necessary to meet the project's schedule or budget constraints.

A good project manager will work with developers to determine the appropriate project approach, depending on the constraints and the level of uncertainty involved. Perhaps an agile approach is warranted, with learnings applied incrementally. Perhaps piecemeal deliverables can be achieved for quick wins and earlier value. A good project manager will also prepare management reports, conduct presentations, and deal with vendor issues.

Most of all, a good project manager will communicate to all parties throughout the project. Although some developers do indeed have the expertise to do all this, it distracts from the work they need to do.

This is not just a nuance of the software industry. The same holds true in any industry where technical or subject matter experts question the need for project management. Project management is a completely different skill set, necessarily so. It's geared toward leading people to achieve objectives. An organization can of course put the project manager in a better position to be successful by providing adequate tools, general principles, and minimal bureaucracy.

The article below offers clear and simple evidence of the importance of project management. It begins with the results of a 1999 study that showed that the number one reason companies stopped working with Internet design firms was not about their lack of creativity or high costs---it was about their inability to effectively manage a project.

Here's the article...

MB Journal Article Archives

Webinar on MindMapping for Client-Focused Project Management

For those that are interested, I'll be doing a free webinar for Mindjet on November 29th (2:30pm EST, 11:30am PST) on the use of their MindManager product, especially as it applies to the Service-Oriented Project Management (SOPM) framework.

If you recall, I had introduced the SOPM framework right here on PMThink several months ago. I've recently completed a white paper on it, which I'll be making available shortly. SOPM follows a four-step process, UP-IT, which stands for Understand, Prepare, Iterate, and Transform. At each phase, a mindmapping tool like MindManager is extremely useful for brainstorming, facilitation, and visualization. I'll discuss the details in the webinar.

The link to register is below...

Mindjet: Webinars

Einstein Project Management Tip #4: Think Value

And so we continue our series on project management tips from Albert Einstein. Here's another...

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."

This sums up perfectly the problem with most projects today. They focus on "success" without fully defining what success means. Project managers and PMOs track schedule and budget metrics. Then, at the end of the project, some capture customer satisfaction, almost as an afterthought.

What really needs to happen is to insure value to the customer, and this usually goes way beyond being on time and on budget. We spoke about the need for clear goals. Surely that's part of it. We also need to deliver in small, frequent iterations to provide the quickest value and get more immediate customer feedback.

Customer satisfaction should be measured and tagged as an index throughout the life of a project, just as Earned Value uses indices to track cost and schedule performance. This allows course correction to be made in areas such as goal clarification, communication, and other areas needed to provide good value.

And when the product has been delivered, be sure that the customer can maximize the benefits of the product through proper training, tips & techniques, next steps, or any other items that will help them get the value expected.

These are the very items I've attempted to address with my Service-Oriented Project Management (SOPM) framework, with its four phases of Understand, Prepare, Iterate, and Transform (UP-IT).

More Einstein tips coming soon...

Join the Project Management Revolution; The SOPM Model Takes Shape

OK, I've been fleshing out the Service-Oriented Project Management (SOPM)™ model, and have come up with a more memorable and catchy representation of the four steps, although the actual content is pretty much the same.

The acronym for the four phases is UP-IT (which can symbolize "upping" the level of customer service, saying "up yours" to old ways of doing things, or "upping" the success rates of IT projects---in which case the "it" stands for "IT").

Ready??? Drum roll please......

The four phases are:

• Understand
• Prepare
• Iterate
• Transform

Here's a revision of my previous post on the topic...

1) UNDERSTAND ... Develop an understanding of the problem being addressed, the goals, constraints, the internal environment, the external market, benchmarks, the people and subject matter involved, potential solutions, risks, benefits/justification, and any other knowledge necessary for success. Most of all, understand the customer and what they need to be successful.

2) PREPARE ... After helping the customer obtain approvals if needed, prepare the project organization (resources, roles & responsibilities), operating principles, the infrastructure and tools needed to run the project, organizational alignment, preliminary training needed, communication, and anything else needed for a smooth road ahead.

3) ITERATE... Using the axiom, "Think bold, implement safely," plan, design, build, test and pilot the solution before attempting a full scale implementation. Encourage innovation. Implement in phases to achieve quick wins, earlier benefits, and greater customer satisfaction. Consider iterative prototypes during the design phase. Don't forget additional training needed.

4) TRANSFORM... After each project phase and at the end of the project, evaluate and document lessons learned, customer satisfaction, and benefits achieved (vs expected) for the purpose of transforming yourself and the customer for the better. This includes guiding the customer to help them achieve maximum results with the product or service delivered, and laying the groundwork for their continued success.

Now that I have the framework locked in, I'll complete the model around these four phases. I am absolutely convinced that this model can help increase customer satisfaction and the general success rates of projects.

SOPM; A New Project Management Methodology

Service Oriented Project Management (SOPM) is taking shape as a methodology that fills the gaps in traditional project management, namely a RELENTLESS customer focus and the all-important analysis and benefits evaluation after the project has "completed."

As I fine tune the model, I'll post the iterations here, as a methodology in progress.

The four high-level steps in SOPM are as follows:

1) UNDERSTAND ... Develop an understanding of the problem being addressed, the goals, constraints, the internal environment, the external market, benchmarks, the people and subject matter involved, potential solutions, risks, benefits/justification, and any other knowledge necessary for success. Most of all, understand the customer.

2) ENABLE ... After helping the customer obtain approvals, prepare the project organization (resources, roles & responsibilities), operating principles, the infrastructure and tools needed to run the project, organizational alignment, preliminary training needed, communication, and anything else needed for a smooth road ahead.

3) ITERATE... Plan, design, build, test and pilot the solution before attempting a full scale implementation. Implement in phases to achieve quick wins, earlier benefits, and greater customer satisfaction. Consider iterative prototypes during the design phase. Don't forget additional training needed.

4) EVALUATE... After each project phase and at the end of the project, evaluate and document lessons learned, customer satisfaction, and benefits achieved (vs expected). This includes evaluating how the customer can achieve maximum results with the product of the project, and laying the groundwork for their continued success.

By using an UNDERSTAND, ENABLE, ITERATE, and EVALUATE process, with COMMUNICATE as an overarching activity that extends across all four steps, we adopt a much more holistic and customer-centered approach to project management.

A few key points... Customer satisfaction should be measured at milestones throughout the project, not just at the end. It's as important as monitoring cost and schedule (i.e. Earned Value performance).

Imagine seeing an S-Curve showing Planned Value, Earned Value, Actual Cost, and Customer Satisfaction. Maybe your project is on schedule and on budget, but the customer isn't satisfied with the results (or with the project communication, or a whole host of other issues).

A narrow focus on cost and schedule takes too much of an inward view. Besides, measuring customer satisfaction throughout a project allows for corrective action instead of managing in the rear view mirror.

More to come.

NOTE: I have since revised this model. See my updated entry.

Project Management Exam Prep ...

Upcoming PMP exam prep course ...

March 16-18: The Northeast Wisconsin Chapter of the Project Management Institute will conduct a three-day project management professional exam preparation course from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Liberty Hall, 800 Eisenhower Drive, Kimberly. The course is designed to tutor attendees through the PMI Project Management knowledge areas and code of professional conduct with the focus of helping students prepare to pass the PMP exam.

Project Management Exam Prep: Via Appleton Post-Crescent: Business planner ...

PMP Exam Prep Course ...

PMP Exam Prep Course upcoming ...

... "March 16-18: The Northeast Wisconsin Chapter of the Project Management Institute will conduct a three day Project Management Professional exam preparation course from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Liberty Hall, 800 Eisenhower Drive, Kimberly. The course is designed to tutor attendees through the PMI Project Management knowledge areas and Code of Professional Conduct with the focus of helping students prepare to pass the PMP Exam. " ...

PMP Exam Prep Course: Via Appleton Post-Crescent - Business planner

Running Effective Meetings; Beware of These Myths

From PageGlobe.com, here are 7 myths that lead to ineffective meetings:

Myth 1: Executives Belong in Meetings
Myth 2: Holding a Large Meeting is Impressive
Myth 3: Structure Inhibits Spontaneity
Myth 4: People are too busy to prepare agendas
Myth 5: Minutes are Unnecessary
Myth 6: Meetings should last a long time
Myth 7: The effectiveness of meetings is a low
priority

Check out the link below for the full report...

7 Myths That Make Meetings Miserable ~ Business and money Articles

Basic Project Communication

Research has shown that in communicating we spend approximately 45% of our time listening. Moreover, the average listener understands and remembers approximately half of what has been said, immediately after a presentation. Within 48 hours this decreases to 22%.

To help get your message across, aim for redundancy in your message and in the medium. If possible and above all other media, you should opt for face-to-face communication.
If you really need to get a message across to a team, I suggest the following:

• Prepare the message in writing (or at least an outline of it); create pictures when possible
• Schedule a meeting and send your written message with the meeting notice
• Bring "visuals" to the meeting (e.g., project the presentation on the wall, prepare handouts for everyone)
• To the extent possible, ask people to explain the message back in their own words to ensure that it is understood
• Follow-up after the meeting with meeting notes (stating your message again clearly)

With all of these opportunities for people to 'get the message', there is a much better chance that they actually will.

IT Governance: SAP ESA Strategy

Implementing effective IT governance is suggested as a pre-requisite to the transition to SAP's enterprise services architecture, SAP ESA.

IT Governance: SAP ESA Strategy: Via Search SAP: Breaking down SAP's ESA strategy ...

... "... according to Naeem Hashmi, chief research officer of Information Frameworks, an IT research and strategic consulting group in Londonderry, N.H. Good IT governance and a hefty amount of planning should prepare most enterprises for the changes ahead, he said. " ...

SAP has developed a consortium-based strategy to its enterprise services architecture ESA:

... "SAP has established Enterprise Services-Ready to identify products that incorporate the Enterprise Services Architecture, leveraging the power of business process services in the enterprise. This standards based certification ensures that SAP and partner ISV solutions that are Enterprise Services-Ready are able to extend ESA functionality across the IT landscape, to help organizations design, deploy, run and maintain innovative business processes at lower cost and higher flexibility. Industry support for Enterprise Services-Ready and ESA as the enabler of flexible, next-generation business continues to grow, already adopted by Adobe, Avaya, Computer Associates, Dell, EMC, HP, Intel, Macromedia, Mercury, Microsoft, Network Appliance, Novell, Research In Motion, RSA Security, Symantec and VERITAS. " ...

Leadership Constraint: Time Management

Leadership Constraint: Time Management: Via SiliconIndia: Mark Of A Leader ...

Project managers need to manage their own, their team's, and their sponsors (leadership) time well. This article explores the challenges and qualities of leadership. Project managers that exercise these competencies prepare themselves for their opportunity in executive leadership positions ...

... "Time Management. Everybody wants a leader's time, just the thing that he or she does not have a lot of. In a sense, the only gift that anybody can give a leader is time, and the only way to do that is by not taking up her time. Messages or ideas should be conveyed in as little time and as efficiently as possible. " ...

Planning for Project Initiation

Here's another of those questions that comes up during consulting engagements, particularly those where resource planning is an important management process.
Many organisations have a formal point at which a project is recognised as being part of the portfolio. Once a project is recognised as being official in this way, then it gets general visibility - it will have a name, perhaps a reference number, a project manager, a charter, a budget, a place on the executives regular status report, etc.
Frequently there is some kind of gate meeting for those organisations that use a Stage Gate Process. For others there may be a portfolio review committee or perhaps it's as 'simple' as getting three separate VPs signatures. Whatever the method, a common requirement is that there must be supporting information giving some kind of cost benefit analysis and, usually, more detail on probable timing, resource requirements, risk assessment and so on.
This information takes time, effort and resources to prepare. And there can be a lot of time, effort and resources involved. The issue is how does one plan for it when, technically, there is no project. There are three general approaches. Which one an organisation uses depends on its management and accounting practices and priorities.

1. Start tracking the project from the time of very first idea. Once it becomes 'official', there needs to be a way to include the effort spent in preparing the proposal in the newly approved budget - including the cases where the project gets rejected at the first gate. This approach would be relevant where the organisation is really interesting in total product costs. The problem is that there is no official plan at the outset against which time and costs can be recorded - and this makes resource planning difficult.
2. Have a specific proposal preparation project with it's own budget and approval mechanism. This would be relevant for major projects and often fits in the context where each phase of a major project would have it's own methodology, plan, budget and approval mechanism.
3. Have a pseudo project which covers 'early project activities' with resources and budget to do a range of relatively lightly defined activities. In this case there would be little formal connection between the effort for the early project proposal effort and the eventual full project. This approach would be suitable for an organisation where project proposals are fairly simple and the effort required for an individual proposal can be approved under a fairly large umbrella.

Process Change or Process Tool First?

Process Change or Process Tool First?: Via Optimal Friction: Tools Stimulating Change ...

We have been on both sides of this debate. Historically, more often implementing the process-enabling tool as a catalyst for process change (with a limited success rate). Michael Mah expresses the concept of flexible tools pacing the cultural / process change in a friendly way. I like the sound of that friction ...

... "It's even better when a manager can prepare a project plan using their way, then having the tool recreate that plan, essentially cloning it, and extending the plan by offering a benchmark of say, the deadline, against industry, or deriving the implied productivity. " ...